1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic commerce, and more particularly to a system and method for tracking purchases made by one or more purchasers. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to tracking specific products purchased by one or more purchasers and the prices paid for those products.
2. Description of the Background Art
Electronic commerce, buying and selling by electronic means, has become commonplace in modern society. With the mainstreaming of the Internet (most specifically the World Wide Web), electronic commerce has made its way into the home or office of any person with a computer. The mainstreaming of the Internet has also allowed purchasers (e.g., credit card users, bank account holders, savings account holders, etc.) to manage and monitor their spending from home by enabling purchasers to view past transaction records via a website provided by their account providers (e.g., credit card company, bank, etc.).
In a typical transaction, the purchaser presents a merchant with a product, optionally labeled with a product identifier, and an account identifier (e.g., credit card, debit card, etc.). The product identifier, typically in the form of a SKU (stock-keeping unit) attached to a product, provides the merchant with product information such as price, inventory, etc. The account identifier provides the merchant with information which identifies the purchaser and account held by the purchaser. The merchant then processes the card using an electronic POS (point-of-sale) system (e.g., credit card payment terminal, debit terminal, etc.) with a communications link to the merchant's acquiring bank. The POS system authorizes the transaction by identifying the account provider and sending out an electronic TAR (transaction approval request). The account provider then returns either an approval or denial, depending on the purchaser's current account status. If the transaction is approved, the POS system proceeds with the transaction by sending general transaction information to the account provider and providing the purchaser with a paper receipt. The purchaser can then manage their account by manually keeping records of paper receipts and/or by viewing their records through the website provided by their account provider. It is important to note that the term product, as used herein, refers to any purchasable good or service.
Although the ability to view account transaction records online provides several convenient advantages, there are still some disadvantages. For example, transaction information is not typically made available by the account provider until after the account provider transmits funds to the merchant's bank, which can sometimes take several days. Therefore, the purchaser has to manually keep track of past transaction information, through paper receipts, in order to accurately monitor their account. As another example, the transaction information that the account providers typically receive includes data indicative of merchant identification, transaction data, transaction cost, and only a generic description, at best, of the product(s) or service(s) (e.g., groceries, vehicle service, etc.). In some cases the information can actually be misleading. For example, a food purchase from service station might appear to be a fuel purchase. The account providers do not receive and, therefore, cannot provide purchasers with detailed product descriptions, which makes it difficult or impossible for purchasers to effectively use the product information for much more than simply identifying the transaction. Of course, no information is provided to the account providers for cash transactions. Therefore, cash purchasers have no choice but to manually log all transaction information in order to accurately monitor spending.
Known POS systems also suffer from some separate disadvantages. For example, it is inconvenient and costly for merchants to provide a printed receipt for every transaction. There are costs associated with paper, supplies, and receipt printer maintenance. Moreover, many of the printed receipts are simply thrown on the floor or in the parking lot by customers, thus requiring resources to keep them cleaned up.
Some merchants, namely Internet merchants, conduct trade remotely and provide purchasers with a digital receipt, via email or a link to a webpage, displaying detailed information associated with the purchased products. Although some remote merchants generally provide more specific product information on digital receipts, several disadvantages still exist. For example, the product information that remote merchants transmit to the purchaser's account provider still only includes very general information, as described above. The detailed information is still only available on the merchant's system. Therefore, keeping specific records of products purchased from several different remote merchants would be just as inconvenient as keeping records of products purchased from several different local merchants, because both require the purchaser to manually keep track of specific product information. In either case, the account provider still receives only, at best, a very general description of the purchased products.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for conveniently tracking specific transaction details. What is also needed is a system and method for conveniently providing purchasers with more specific transaction information. What is also needed is a more convenient system and method for locally providing and receiving more specific transaction information. What is also needed is a system and method that eliminates the need for paper receipts.